reality check

Amazing Race renewed; Bachelorette Jillian “disappointed” in Chris Harrison”; Mars colony show

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  • CBS renewed both The Amazing Race and Undercover Boss, but did not specify if that was for two seasons for TAR (it probably is). Back in December, the network renewed Survivor and re-upped with Jeff Probst for seasons 29 and 30.
  • Former Bachelorette star Jillian Harris is among those who disliked both Juan Pablo and The Bachelor‘s treatment of him. She writes that “what has upset me more [than Juan Pablo], is the way the franchise dealt with all of this.” She notes that “Chris is such a GOOD friend … But… I was disappointed in him last night. I felt awkward the whole time he interviewed Juan Pablo and didn’t understand the strong and relentless emphasis on getting Juan to say that he was in love!” She also says “I completely disagree” with Sean Lowe that the couple must live in the public eye, noting that he and Catherine “have a very public life, because they have chosen to do so!”
  • Gossip Cop needs to police itself: after claiming “Kate Gosselin, Ian Ziering, Martina Navratilova, and Johnny Weir” were signed up as Celebrity Apprentice contestants, Martina Navratilova said that wasn’t true, asking “what knucklehead started that false info.”
  • The Voice‘s contestant contract was called “dehumanizing” by an anonymous “legal expert” in The New York Daily News, though its clauses seem pretty standard. Maybe dehumanization is pretty standard for contacts?
  • Nashville-set reality series, such as Crazy Hearts: Nashville, aren’t doing well, in ratings or perception. The A&E series was cancelled, as was Lifetime’s Chasing Nashville; TNT’s Private Lives of Nashville Wives was moved to a later timeslot.
  • Girls creator Lena Dunham is writing a story for Archie Comics about its characters meeting a cast members of a reality show that films in their town.
  • Joining NBC’s Mark Burnett and Richard Branson space travel reality show Space Race will be Lionsgate’s Mars One. Deadline has a detailed story about the series, which it says “will chronicle the mission” funded by Dutch billionaire Bas Lansdorp to send people to Mars to form a colony; the show “will be shopped to networks shortly.”
  • MasterChef judge Graham Elliot lost about 150 pounds, down to 253 from 400 following a medical procedure nine months ago.
  • Growing Pains star Alan Thicke will star in a new TVGN series, Unusually Thicke, that follows him and “his beautiful, spicy and much younger wife Tanya, and his dry-witted, often opinionated 16-year-old son Carter,” the network said in a press release. Robin Thicke will also make appearances, as will Bob Saget, John Stamos, and others. The trailer makes it look like one of those terrible over-produced, soft-scripted celebrity “comedy” reality series. Ugh.
  • Two producers filed a lawsuit claiming they pitched the idea for Mona Scott Young’s Love & Hip Hop to VH1 and MTV in 2009, calling it “Hip Hop Wives.”
  • Alaska lawmakers are considering repealing tax credits that cost more than $200 million
    over nine years and often benefit reality shows, which some politicians think don’t make their state look great.
  • New books: There’s Supernanny Jo Frost’s Toddler Rules: Your 5-Step Guide to Shaping Proper Behavior; Deadliest Catch captain Scott Campbell, Jr.’s Giving the Finger: Risking It All to Fish the World’s Deadliest Sea, which is described as “a prequel to Junior’s ascent to fame”; and Animal Planet’s badly recreated/staged reality series has spawned Tanked: The Official Companion.

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    reality blurred exists to cover reality TV, with original reporting, analysis, criticism, and curated news. It's edited by Andy Dehnart. reality blurred is regularly updated with reality TV news; behind-the-scenes reports; interviews with reality TV show cast members and producers; and recaps and reviews of reality TV shows including Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, The Bachelor, Project Runway, The Voice, Top Chef, and many more.

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